


I Want You Back

by ShinyMilotics



Series: Empress [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Drabble, F/F, Femslash, Love Confessions, Post-Time Skip, Romance, inspired by a song, pre-release
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 14:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19253149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinyMilotics/pseuds/ShinyMilotics
Summary: Edelgard refuses to let Byleth leave Fódlan before she can have just one more chance to show her how she feels.Inspired by a song.





	I Want You Back

**Author's Note:**

> this happened so quickly. I don't even know, man. also again please note the release date, this was written prior to FETH's release!

♪  _trying to live without your love, is one long sleepless night_  
  
  _let me show you, girl. that I know wrong from right. ♪_  
   
  
  
Edelgard squeezed her horse’s sides, urging it to gallop faster. There was no time! Soon, Byleth would be getting on that ship and leaving Fódlan, perhaps forever. Gods, she had been such a fool!

_“You… you cannot be serious. Teacher… Why? You can’t leave us. We need you!”_

_“No, Edelgard, you don’t. Perhaps five years ago, yes, but certainly not now. You are more than capable on your own, as are the others. This is not my war to fight._

_“So you’re leaving? Just like that? Why, Teacher? Why?!”_

_“Edelgard… Forgive me. I hope that you will understand one day.”_

And then she had pulled Edelgard’s hand from her wrist, turned, and left. And Edelgard didn’t stop her. Didn’t tell her what she was really feeling. That she didn’t care what Byleth decided to do. Didn’t even care if she chose not to side with the Empire.

She was not just her cherished Teacher. Not just a guide, a mentor, a pillar of hope. In that short year she had come to matter more to Edelgard than anyone else in the world. She had torn apart the walls she had built around her heart, brick by brick. Had made her blush like a lovestruck maiden. Made her pace the corridors, her heart pounding in her chest. Taught her far more than combat skills. To her, Byleth was… she was…

She held back tears as her horse’s frantic hoofbeats thundered across the ground. She was the Empress now. She could not afford to make decisions with her heart. If Byleth was steadfast on not choosing any side, and leaving Fódlan, then she would accept it. But not before she told her how she felt.

_I… I need one more chance._

She dismounted her horse so quickly once she reached the entrance to the port, that she probably started the poor thing. But she was running out of time, and every second that she delayed could be the difference.

“S-Sir, please!” Edelgard gasped, almost out of breath from her dash.

“Empress Edelgard?” Asked the startled sailor. “What are you-”

“The ship to Valentia! Has it set sail yet?”

“No ma’am, but it should be doing so right about n--”

“Please! Where do I find it?!”

“R-right. Er-” he pointed to his right, “follow this pier until you get near the end of--”

“Thank you!” she blurted, not allowing him to finish his sentence, for she was already running past him, her heeled boots clattering against the wood beneath them.

_Don’t you leave me, Teacher. Not yet!_

She kept going until she saw a massive ship with long white sails, and a flag with the banner of the Adrestian Empire. It seemed right about ready to leave, its final passengers crossing the bridge to board. And then she saw her.

Byleth, already with one foot on the boarding bridge, her hair blown about by the wind.

 **“STOP!”** Edelgard shouted, as loud as her overworked lungs could manage.

Almost every person there stopped in their tracks, and she ignored their shocked gasps and whispers of “It’s… The Empress ...?”

Byleth’s eyes went wide open. She could scarcely believe them.

“Edelgard…? What are you doing he--”

“Don’t leave, Teacher!” she gasped, resting her hands on her knees to attempt to catch her breath.

“Edelgard-”

She leaned forward and grasped Byleth’s wrist, just as she had this morning, beckoning her to look into her eyes.

“Teacher… Byleth,” she corrected herself. Byleth nearly gasped, for Edelgard had never addressed her by name before.

“I don’t want you to leave Fódlan. I don’t want you to leave me!”

“Edelgard, it’s- it’s too late-”

“I was a fool, Teacher. I hid my emotions for so long. I thought it was for the good of the Empire. But I can’t continue, not anymore. Even if you choose to stay out of the war, I want you to stay. I want you to stay for _me_.”

Byleth and onlookers alike watched in shocked silence, rendered speechless by Edelgard’s impassioned plea.

“You are far more to me than just my teacher. If you’ll just… If you’ll just give me one more chance to show it. That you’re everything to me. That I love you!”

Byleth’s heart skipped a beat, and her world stood still.

“I… I love you.” She stepped closer, holding Byleth’s arm tightly. “Don’t get on that ship, Beyeth. Don’t leave me.”

“Edelgard… This is…”

“Completely irrational, I know. Gods, I know. But _please_ ,” she went on, “I’ll beg if I must. If you leave, I don’t know what I shall do.”

Byleth dropped her trunk at her side, and cupped Edelgard’s face with both of her hands. Gods, up close like this, it was so clear how much these five years had aged her. So much more mature, and yet every inch as beautiful. Her icy eyes were glittering with incoming tears.

“This is crazy,” Byleth said. Edelgard covered her hand with hers.

“I know. But I don’t care. I love you.”

Desperate to drive her point home, she closed the distance between them, kissing Byleth starkly on the lips. She did not care who was watching. Didn’t care if she was the greatest subject of gossip in the entire continent. None of it mattered, not more than showing Byleth how she felt.

When they pulled away, silent tears were trailing languidly down Edelgard’s cheeks.

“I hope that the captain will accept my returning the money I paid for the passage,” Byleth said. The smile that lit up on Edelgard’s face could have moved mountains.

“Then… You’ll stay? Truly?”

“For you, yes. My white rose.”

Edelgard made a sound that was half laugh, and half cry. And then they kissed again, long and passionate, as the wind blew their hair about them.

Though they hardly noticed it, the crowd around them had begun to clap, celebrating yet another victory of their beloved Empress.  
  
  
  
♪  _oh just one more chance. to show you that I love you, baby,_  
  
   _forget what happened then. and let me live again ♪_


End file.
